1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an improved ostomy device.
It is known that some surgical operations on the gastro-intestinal tract or the urinary apparatus are accompanied in the patient having undergone such operations by the creation of an artifical physiological orifice, with which a body fluid collection means is sometimes associated, such as a collecting probe for urine or similar. The fluids eliminated or, in the case of abdominal ostomy, the body waste is generally collected in a collecting pocket, numerous constructions of which are known.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In some of them, provided for so called two element ostomy devices and described for example in EP-A-O 171 255 or by FR-A No. 2 387 643, the collecting pocket is a disposable bag, or a bag which may be emptied, adapted for being removably fixed to a ring device fixed to the body of the user by an adhesive pad and/or by a belt. The collecting pocket is positioned on a fitting ring or flange fixed to the body of the user, by a snap fit resulting from thrust or pressure which he applies about the ostomy opening so as to cause said ring or flange to cooperate with a sealing fit with a part of conjugate form fixed to the collecting pocket.
In other known devices, the pocket for collecting body waste or fluids is provided with a ring or similar made from a pressure sensitive adhesive material and said pocket is positioned by causing the ring to adhere to a protective means fixed to the body of the user, also under the action of the pressure from the user.
However, since the zone adjacent the ostomy opening is sensitive, generally painful, the application of a pressure only increases the discomfort of the user, so that neither type of device mentioned above is entirely satisfactory. Furthermore, fitting with insufficient pressure does not guarantee sealing of the device, with the extremely disagreeable consequences which result therefrom for the user. These drawbacks, also mentioned in the EP-A-O 163 979 are overcome, in his document, by proposing several bayonet systems or a device in which a collecting pocket is connected to a threaded hub, so that pressure is not used for removably fitting the pocket to the conjugate element of the device fixed to the body of the user. In this device, as well as in that described in GB-A-1 021 145, the indispensable sealing of the device is obtained by cooperation of the hub and the ring so that, if it is sufficient, the device is necessarily formed with close tolerances and therefore the pocket is difficult to position and to remove. Moreover, in the construction described in the British patent, the pocket is not provided integral with the ring, but must be fixed thereto by the user, which is not always without drawbacks.
Thus, consequently, a general purpose of the invention is to provide an improved ostomy device which is simpler and more reliable to use than the known devices.
A futher aim of the invention is to provide such a device which finds an application not only in abdominal ostomy cases but also for ostomies of the urinary system in which a semipermanent system is sometimes used, that is to say in which the pocket or bag for collecting urine is provided with a means for eliminating its contents, so that the device is not renewed at each urination but is kept by the user for one or more days.